Through the Lens: A Presiding Bishop’s Ministry to the World (Forward Movement, 2015)

Through the Lens: A Presiding Bishop’s Ministry to the World (Forward Movement, 2015)

David Reed, the newly consecrated Episcopal Bishop Coadjurer of West Texas, was honored at St. John’s New Braunfels at an elegant dinner. (Thank you, Ben Nelson – so cute with his flowing locks). Also, in attendance was PB Katharine Jefferts Schori and her husband, Richard. I was fortunate to have a meaningful conversation with the Presiding Bishop’s spouse, Richard Schori who has captured Katharine Jefferts Schori’s nine year ministry and service to the world in a newly released book, Through the Lens: A Presiding Bishop’s Ministry to the World.

Organized around the “Five Marks of Mission” outlined by the Presiding Bishop, the photographs by Richard Schori are revealing and inspirational. They tell a story of not only her work but his story of being the spouse of the first female presiding bishop and primate in the Anglican Communion. Firsts have always fascinated me and Richard’s experience was no exception.

The loving enthusiasm with which the humble Dick Schori, a retired mathematics professor at Oregon State University, described the scope of his wife’s ministry was engaging. His ties to the Episcopal Church are strong and he told me, relishing the mathematical significance in it, that their granddaughter was related to not only the 26th Presiding Bishop but also the 6th. He recounted that he saved over an astonishing 51,000 photographs and was glad to have competent editors at Forward Movement to help him sort and organize the photographic record of the historical 9 years.